Gold prices tumbled Wednesday as uncertainties in the United States and Europe were stoking the biggest selloff since early November.

Gold for December delivery dropped $25.80 to settle at $1,716.50 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold price traded as high as $1,743.10 and as low as $1,705.50 an ounce, while the spot price was slumping $26.20, according to Kitco's gold index.

"Due to a lot of the uncertainty just in general of what the tax code will look like next year -- specifically with realized gains, or anything investment-gain related -- that you're probably seeing a little bit more selloff," said Anthem Blanchard, chief executive of Blanchard Vault.

Silver prices for December delivery lost 30 cents to close at $33.68 an ounce, while the U.S. dollar index was lowering 0.01% to $80.33.

Actually, spot gold was knocked down $20 at the NY open, and dropped further, but then recovered most of it as the day wore on. Silver, platinum, and palladium followed, but recovered by the close. And gold STOCKS ended the day slightly up.

This was a big worry day, with all the metals options expiring. It looked like the dealers probably knocked down the price to get a better deal on the options they were holding.

Also, the Fed beige book was today, and people would have approached the announcement with caution.

Gold and hoars are a part of the age old equation...
since the beginning of time gold has been sought after, valued, saved , traded and warred over. I doubt the future will be much different. As money or currency? It’s pretty weak, silver would be better. As a store of condensed value? It will still be good.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.